Author: Editor

FROM southern Ethiopia to northern Kenya and Somalia, 22 million people are at risk of hunger, victims of a historic drought that began in late 2020 and is expected to last for the next few months. This figure has almost doubled since the beginning of 2022, when 13 million people were facing hunger in the Horn of Africa. In this region, where the population lives mainly on livestock and agriculture, nearly 5.6 million people are now “acutely food insecure” in Somalia, 12 million in Ethiopia and 4.3 million in Kenya, according to the UN. More than 1.7 million people have…

CHELSEA have agreed a British record 121m euro (£107m) deal for Benfica’s Argentina midfielder Enzo Fernandez. The deal eclipses the £100m Manchester City paid for Jack Grealish in 2021. Benfica said in a statement it had “reached an agreement with Chelsea FC for the sale of all the rights of the player Enzo Fernandez”. Fernandez, who only joined Benfica for a reported £10m in August, was named young player of the tournament during Argentina’s World Cup triumph in Qatar. The 22-year-old’s arrival takes Chelsea’s January spending to £288m, according to transfer website Transfermarkt.com That follows an outlay of £292m in…

MANCHESTER United have completed the loan signing of Austrian midfielder Marcel Sabitzer from Bayern Munich. The 28-year-old joins Erik ten Hag’s squad until the end of the season following Christian Eriksen’s long-term injury and a short-term problem for Scott McTominay. Sabitzer has made 54 appearances for Bayern since joining in August 2021. “Sometimes in life you have to make quick and important decisions,” Sabitzer said. “From the moment I heard about this opportunity I knew it was right for me. I am a competitive player; I want to win and help the club achieve its aims this season,” he added.…

THE Presidency on Tuesday accused the main opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party, of allegedly latching onto “fake reports” about the stoning of the President’s convoy in Kano putting the All Progressives Congress at loggerheads with the Federal Government. In a statement signed late Tuesday by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the Presidency argued that the mob spotted in a widely circulated video footage were “innocent children sponsored by politicians and terrorist sympathisers.” The statement is titled ‘PDP’s sad celebration of the false news of Kano stone-pelting of the President.’ Late Monday, the…

MANCHESTER United’s Christian Eriksen is set to be out until at least late April after sustaining an ankle injury in his side’s FA Cup win over Reading on Saturday. United manager Erik ten Hag believes the club have the “players who can fill the gap” caused by Eriksen’s absence. “On deadline day it’s difficult [to bring in a replacement]. You can’t make policy on such bad injuries,” he said. “But we have players in the midfield department and good players.” The Denmark midfielder has made 31 appearances for United this season. The former Ajax, Tottenham, Inter Milan and Brentford player…

ARSENAL have signed Italy midfielder Jorginho from Chelsea in a £12m deal. The 31-year-old, who joined Chelsea from Napoli in 2018, was in the last six months of his Blues’ contract. He passed a medical on Tuesday and signed an 18-month contract with the option of a further year. “Jorginho is a midfield player who has intelligence, deep leadership skills and a huge amount of Premier League and international experience,” said Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta. “He has won in his career, but still has the hunger and huge willingness to contribute here. “We are so pleased to sign Jorginho and…

AUTHORITIES in Ethiopia’s Somali region have banned 15 media practitioners working for foreign organisations – including the BBC’s and the Voice of America’s (VOA) Somali language services – that they said were operating without the necessary permits. The move follows a letter written by the federal media regulator Ethiopian Media Authority to regional officials stating it had found out that some international media organisation representatives based in the region were working without the required accreditations. However, the head of the region’s journalists’ association rejected the claim provided by the authorities for the decision telling a local media outlet that the…

BRITISH Actor Idris Elba plans to open a film studio in Tanzania after holding initial talks with President Samia Suluhu Hassan, according to a presidential aide. The actor met President Samia on the side-lines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, earlier this month. “The president met with Idris Elba and his wife Sabrina, they are keen to invest in a film studio in Tanzania. The talks are in the initial stage but if everything goes well then the studio will benefit not only Tanzania but east and central Africa,” said Zuhura Yunus, the director of presidential communications. Since…

FORTY-NINE children died when their overloaded boat capsized in northwest Pakistan, police said Tuesday after divers spent three days dragging bodies from freezing waters. The boys aged between seven and 14 were all students of a madrassa and had been taken for a day trip to the scenic Tanda Dam lake on Sunday. “The water of the dam was freezing due to cold weather that impeded the rescue mission. But today the divers were able to dive deep to recover the remaining bodies,” said Khateer Ahmad, a senior official with Rescue 1122. The bodies of a teacher and one skipper…

EXECUTIONS of prisoners have been carried out in Saudi Arabia with no advance warning to their families, relatives have told the BBC. The country’s execution rate has almost doubled since 2015 – according to a new human rights report – the year when King Salman and his son Mohammed bin Salman took charge. Mustafa al-Khayyat’s family were given no notice that he was about to be killed. They still have no body to bury. No grave to visit. The last they heard from him was a phone call from prison, and he signed off with these words to his mother:…

The late Emir of Dutse Alhaji Nuhu Muhammadu Sanusi (middle) when he received APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu at his Palace on Saturday, January 21st. THE Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has expressed sorrow over the death of the Emir of Dutse, Alhaji Nuhu Muhammadu Sanusi. The Jigawa State monarch died on Tuesday in Abuja at the age of 78. In a press statement released by the Tinubu Media Office in Abuja, the presidential candidate described the late emir as a modern leader who led his people to greater development…

The Emir of Dutse, HRH Alhaji Nuhu Muhammad Sanusi is dead. He died aged 78, at an Abuja hospital after a brief illness. The Commissioner for Special Duties, Jigawa State, Alhaji Auwal Danladi Sankara confirmed the sad news to News Point Nigeria, Tuesday. In a telephone conversation with this newspaper, Special Adviser, Media and Public Relations To Jigawa state governor, Habibu Nuhu Kila said, the funeral for the deceased will take place at the Dutse Emirate Palace, tomorrow (Wednesday). Born in 1945 at Yargaba village in Dutse, the capital of Jigawa State, Late Dr Sanusi attended Dutse Elementary School from…

THE Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, has assured that no Nigerian will lose money under the Naira redesign project, adding that the project is in the overall interest of Nigerians and the economy. Emefiele gave the assurance during a meeting with the ad-hoc committee on the review of the Bank’s cashless policy and extension of the timeframe of the currency swap programme of the Bank on Tuesday, January 31, 2023. He added that subject to the provision of Section 20(3) of the CBN Act, Nigerians would be given the opportunity to redeem the face…

A VISITATION team from the National Universities Commission (NUC) has paid a Resource Verification visit to the Franco-British International University, Kaduna. The team which was under the leadership of Deputy Director, Master Plan and Infrastructure Dr. Mustapha Rasheed, arrived Kaduna on Saturday, 28th January, 2023, to assess the facilities put in place at the proposed University. The facilities the team visited include lecture halls and theatres, laboratories, library, staff offices as well as students’ hostels and staff quarters. The visitation team was received on arrival by the Promoter and Proprietor of the University, Prof. Adamu Abubakar Gwarzo and the Planning…

THE Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has confirmed the death of 37 persons from Lassa Fever in the first three weeks of 2023. In its Lassa Fever Situation Report published on Tuesday, the centre noted that the number of deaths represents 15.1 percent of the 244 confirmed cases in 16 states across 50 local government areas (LGAs). According to the NCDC, for week three, 18 deaths (13.1 percent) were recorded out of 137 confirmed cases in 37 LGAs of 14 states. “Seventy-nine (79%) of all confirmed Lassa fever cases were reported from these three states (Ondo, Edo…

THE presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, says he rescued former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar from his erstwhile principal, former President Olusegun Obasanjo. For over a decade since leaving office in 2007, Atiku, who is also the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate in the forthcoming election, was at loggerheads with the former president. Obasanjo however put aside his differences to endorse his two-term deputy in the 2019 presidential election. This however changed in 2023 when the Ogun-born statesman threw his weight behind Labour Party’s Peter Obi. While campaigning in Uyo, Akwa Ibom on Monday, Tinubu took…

SUSPECTED members of the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) members have distributed huge amounts of old notes to scores of commuters in the Lake Chad Basin ahead of the deadline of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) cashless policy, sources have said. Our correspondent gathered that the incident occurred after Mairari village, along the Maiduguri/Monguno highway on Saturday in Guzamala LGA of Borno State. A source told the Daily Trust in Maiduguri that the ISWAP members were dressed in military camouflage and drove two gun trucks. A resident, Bakura Ibrahim, said the insurgents positioned themselves under a tree…

NO fewer than 79 persons have committed suicide in Nigeria in 2022. Findings reviewed by our correspondent showed that the 79 persons comprised 70 males and 9 females within the period. The figure does not include the number of cases of suicide that have not been reported in the media. The breakdown showed that Lagos ranked highest with 12 suicide cases; followed by Oyo; 10; Kano, four; Anambra three; Edo, three; Delta, three; Ogun, three; and Rivers, three. Borno, Bayelsa, Abia, Benue, FCT, Imo, Enugu, Niger, Jos, Jigawa, Kaduna and Kwara had two cases each. Others such as Ondo, Osun,…

PREMIER League Manchester City will go to Championship side Bristol City in the FA Cup fifth round. Five of the eight ties are subject to a replay, including the winner of non-league Wrexham and Sheffield United landing a home meeting with Tottenham. Manchester United will host West Ham after they beat League One Derby County 2-0 on Monday night. If Luton Town beat Grimsby Town they will face their former manager Nathan Jones’ Southampton. At least one English Football League team will be in the quarter-finals with Ipswich Town or Burnley drawn at home to Sheffield Wednesday or Fleetwood Town.…

VALENCIA manager Gennaro Gattuso has left the La Liga club after just seven months in charge at the Mestalla. Former AC Milan and Napoli boss Gattuso, 45, signed a two-year deal when he was unveiled last summer. But Valencia have lost eight of his 18 league matches in charge and sit 14th, just a point above the bottom three, after Sunday’s loss at Real Valladolid. Valencia said former Italy midfielder Gattuso’s departure had been “decided by mutual agreement”. His exit leaves Los Ches searching for a fifth manager in less than three years. Valencia stalwart Voro Gonzalez will take charge…